Now, a week after Varadkar’s comments, presented as statements from Air India, on airline’s interest in establishing a hub in Dublin, Air India is speaking out stating it has no plans to open a hub in Dublin or anywhere in Europe. Air India has cited that a hub in Dublin would make no sense, as the airline’s US to India traffic via Dublin would be forced to compete with the already existing non-stop service from major US gateways.

Experts on this matter, having conferred with Boeing, pilots and industry experts, also additionally point to the infrastructure issues related to operating from Dublin, including the airports longest runway, Runway 10/28, being 8,652 feet when they estimate a minimum runway length requirement of more than 10,000 feet to operate a fully loaded Boeing 777-337/ER between Dublin and Delhi.

These two major points for Air India are ones previously discussed on Flying With Fish last week, and points that lead to the conclusion that it didn’t make sense for Air India to operate from Dublin, much less establish a hub in Dublin.

The final blow to Minister Varadkar’s dreams of having an Indian airline establish a hub in Dublin might be that despite his comments that Dublin Airport was in talks with other private Indian airlines regarding establishing a hub in Dublin … it would seem that none of India’s international long-haul carriers are aware of any real discussion regarding the creation of a hub in Dublin.

Dublin Airport needs to find more airlines, more flights and more tenants quickly to justify the expense of building a huge new terminal that is likely to be under utilized for the foreseeable future. As the airport and the government seek to attract new service they need to lose the “desperate girl” mentality and work to find new attractive options. The airport advertises themselves as one of the cheapest to operate from in Europe … most business people know that the cheapest isn’t always the best option.

Comments

I would sincerely hope that Air India was able to come up with these reasons on their own. The runway issue alone should be blatantly obvious … but what gets me is the tactic the Irish Minister is taking on behalf of the airport. The Minster stating that the airport is in talks with other Indian airlines, when its in talks with no Indian airlines is really a sleazy used car salesman tactic to try and get Air India in the door.

Strangely this article appears to be a carbon copy of the Indian Business Standard from 29 March, and even this is attributed to a “top AI official, who did not want to be identified”. Not citing sources is a bit sloppy.

Speculation regarding Air India moving its hub to DUB has been going on for far less than two years as Air India only closed its hub in FRA at the end of the October 2010, after only 17 months in operation. Using your time frame, it would mean that a move from FRA to DUB was in consideration from the same time the FRA hub opened.

Secondly, the story your are citing is from the 29th of March where as I wrote my post on the 28th of March. My March 28th content references my post from the 22nd of March that addresses this same topic. As for specifics, such as runway requirements, I had spoken with Boeing directly, as well as seeking the insight of other industry experts on this matter.

About Me

Fish has been covering aviation and transportation security issues since September 15, 2001, after walking away from Ground Zero in Lower Manhattan following four days of documenting the worst aviation security disaster in history.

Having spent more than a decade-and-a-half as a full-time photojournalist, Fish now divides his time between building social media and social commerce strategies and solutions for global travel brands, along with researching aviation and transportation security.

Growing up at the end up New York's JFK International Airport's Runway 4R/22L probably explains Fish’s enjoyment of watching planes fly overhead. When not working or shooting photos, Fish can be found playing with (and cleaning up after) his three kids, chasing his dogs, standing in the kitchen cooking, monitoring radios public safety and federal radios and of course cheering for the Red Sox.

You can find Fish on Twitter at @flyingwithfish …and … join Fish every Thursday at 3:30pm EST as he hosts the weekly #TNI #Travel Chat on Twitter.